Pediatric mortality no higher for weekend, night admissions

New research into emergency pediatric treatment finds children admitted into intensive care units on the weekend or at night are no more likely to die than those admitted during peak staffing periods. The study conflicted with 2010 research finding a 10 percent higher mortality rate in United Kingdom hospitals for children admitted on weekends.

But the new U.K. study by the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, published online last week by the Journal of Pediatrics, found no difference in pediatric mortality for admissions on weekends, at night or during regular hours.

Where it did find a difference was for winter admissions, with deaths rising 13 percent from November through January, according toMedical News Today. The researchers questioned whether the higher number of admissions due to respiratory viruses in winter might be straining pediatric ICU resources and staff, according to the article.

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FEATURED ADVISOR

Kent Bottles, M.D.
Senior Fellow
Thomas Jefferson University School of Population Health

Kent Bottles, M.D., teaches health policy and payment reform at The Thomas Jefferson University School of Population Health in Philadelphia. Previously, he was the vice president and chief medical officer of 7-hospital Iowa Health System based in West Des Moines, a president and CEO of an educational and research collaborative in Grand Rapids, Mich., president and CEO of an evidence-based medicine healthcare consortium in Minneapolis and president and chief knowledge officer of a genomics bio-tech start-up company in Cambridge, Mass. He also writes for Hospital Impact and other popular healthcare blogs.